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THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 1924.
-^~ -"
QUEENSLAM HAMS A LESSON.
MR. THEODORE, the Premier of Queens-
land, has at last made peace with the
owners of pastoral properties who wera
injured by the legisiaticn for which he
was responsible. In order to induce
men with capital to take np the back
country of Queensland, the land was
offered on attractive terms. Tho rent
in seme cases was little more than
ncminal, hecauw the cost of preparing
die land for settlement and making tho
jie^oísurv improvements to iii it for
carrying stock called for mere ninney
than the State was prepared to spend*.
As the result of tho liberal expendi-
ture cf capital, all of- which went in
wages one way or another, the land
naturally increased in value with the
advance cf the State. The (íoveru
mont. led by Mr. Theodore. Hhon ùe
cided thai thc people in general were
entitled lo a ncr Lion of (he incrément j
«t tho leased land, and passed legisln
Í tion accordingly. Under thc new law
tb« land WM rtappraiwd, and th* r»at
j raised in cmrfßrmity with thc increas"
I value. This is the grievance which t:
I holders cf tho land protested again«
! as heine a breach-of the contract und
¡'which they laid ont their capital ai
j look the risk of losing it-when tl
j Suite itself was not prepared to tal
; thc same risk.
! Queens-land being a self-govornir
j «"rainiry the people who consider«
; themselves ill-i rca tod by the raising <
j ilicir rent beyond tin- MIHI «greed upi
could dr untiling l>ut proU><l-until.tl
[ time caine fc.r the (.Vveriiineiir to a*
j 1er more loan money from the
, friend': cr their partner« in Knglani
! Then the chickens t-aine IIOIIIP to roo''
j On the last occas nu thai Queenslan
j wanted a loan Air. Theodore got ov«
1 the difficulty by approaching the cap
j iahst» of the United State?. ti
laked a lean there, and his Snrces
I wa? hailed a?, a triumph. Somerhin
j -conn io have gone wrong, howevei
:K tho ..Kjioritnoiif «a mVaig money i
America is not boin*; repeated. Pc;
¡ .sihlv .thc hard-headed dollar merchant
' cf thc United States charged more fe
iho hi«! |c:m tba . appeared thc sui
taco, (tr iicrhap*. they «anted to rai*
the iuteresá rate after the bargain wa
.nade -just as the Queensland Govr.m
mod raised the vent after making th
largain with uie settlers. Anyhow
i here was evidently some hard reasoi
fer not going again to the Americai
menev market, ai"* Mr. Theodore passe»
right' through that country and wen
on t o Knuiunil- tho despised aniabiispi
country that still has a kick in it
and evidently a pound or two to lem
w a hard-uo friend or a prodigal son
Per some time tho cables have beet
idling the anxious people of Queens-
land of the efforts of Mr
Theodore io make peace wit]
the aggrieved pastoralists. Unit
a few days ago the issue of hi
mission was in dcubt. It is now an-
nounced that his past sin* havo beeil
forgiven: and, provided that the rent?
aie not any loneer subjected to the
? threatened ascending scale, the loan
fha* Ouoensland is asking for will be
for -i bromine. The final result of the
. content between thc Oovernnient and
; the pastoralists seems tn he something
like a draw. . The increased rents will
continue to he paid, and so far tho
Government, is tho winner; but the
further increases that were expected
are guaranteed not to ho imposed, so
that.the estimates of rovenue for the
contine years will be Shorn .of the con-
tribution that .was to have been taken
out pf "thc poetóte" of the htijders of
pastoral lease*. without- their.' consent.
?". The whole experiment is instructive.
In the first place it «hows that the
.people who elect Parliaments do actu
1 ally own the country., and can, please
i themselves whether they ao or do not
/keep faith with 'those who make con-
tracts with';,theiu.- either for the de-
velopment of the,land br for any other,
class of work. The electors'of Queens
laud made contracts for the taking up
cf land at certain rents,, and then when
tho. tenants had spent t millions of
pounds in improvements ihev raised the
'rent, in spite of xhe agreement. 'Thai
was going further than the rack-renting
in Ireland, which could only-take place
.after- a lease had expired.. , If the?
chose, the people, through their Gov-
ernment, could- forfeit the land alto-
gether. But the final result shows that
¡ir does not. pay. to steal, even by .legis-
lation: and that lesson has now'been \
learned by Air. Theodore , and his
friends. The people of other States
will do. well to profit by the' example. ;
There are would-be thieves everywhere, j
and the onlv effectual way to check
them and to prevent them increasing
ia to show that the game is an unpro-
fitable one.
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